Thomas H. Lee (businessman)
| Thomas Haskell Lee | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 27, 1944 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Belmont Hill School, 1961 Harvard College, 1965 |
| Occupation | Private equity investor |
| Employer | Lee Equity Partners |
| Known for | --founder of Thomas H. Lee Partners (1974) --founder of Lee Equity Partners (2006) |
| Net worth | US$ 2.0 billion (Sept 2015) |
| Spouse(s) |
Barbara Fish (divorced) Ann Tennenbaum |
| Children | Rosalie Lee Jesse Lee Nathan Lee Zach Lee Robbie Lee |
| Parent(s) | Herbert C. Lee Mildred “Micki” Schiff Lee |
Thomas H. Lee (born March 27, 1944) is an American businessperson, financier and investor and is credited with being one of the early pioneers in private equity and specifically leveraged buyouts. Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL), the firm he founded in 1974, is among the oldest and largest private equity firms globally. Lee is currently the managing partner of Lee Equity Partners, a private equity firm he founded in 2006 after leaving Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Lee was born to a Jewish family, the son of Herbert C. Lee (formerly Leibowitz) and Mildred “Micki” Schiff Lee. His father worked for the Shoe Corporation of America, founded by his father-in-law, Robert Schiff and later was chairperson of Shoe Corporation of Canada and Clark International Corp. He has two brothers: Richard S. Lee and Jonathan O. Lee. Lee attended Belmont Hill School and graduated from Harvard College in 1965, quickly going to work as an analyst in the institutional research department of L.F. Rothschild in New York. The next year, Lee went to work for the First National Bank of Boston, where he spent eight years ultimately rising to the rank of Vice President in 1973.
Lee is said to have begun investing with a $150,000 inheritance.
In 1974, Lee founded a new investment firm to focus on acquiring companies through leveraged buyout transactions. By the mid-1980s, Thomas H. Lee Partners was firmly established among the top tier of a new class of private equity investors, while taking a friendlier approach than the so-called corporate raiders of the era (e.g., Nelson Peltz, Ronald Perelman, Carl Icahn). One of THL's early successes was the 1985 acquisition of Akron, Ohio-based Sterling Jewelers for $28 million. Lee reportedly put in less than $3 million and when the company was sold two years later for $210 million walked away with over $180 million in profits. The combined company was an early predecessor to what is now Signet Group, one of Europe's largest jewelry retail chains. In 1992, THL's acquisition of Snapple Beverages marked the resurrection of the leveraged buyout after several dormant years in the wake of the RJR Nabisco takeover, the fall of Michael Milken, and the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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